and right now those favor barack obama. the polls are really more like a painting than they are a digital photograph. one of the other complaints is that pollsters are talking to too many democrats. in 2004 democrats said pollsters were talking to too many republicans. it's a standard complaint for the party that the currents are moving against. >> pelley: john, why is there such a difference between the national poll which is essentially a tie and the poll in the battleground states? >> well, they're really polls of two different countries. the battleground states peoples v seen millions of dollars of ads, many negative. they've gotten visits on their doorstep from campaign volunteers. they've gotten mail, visits from the candidates. in the rest of the country the polling is made up of states where none of that is going on. there's no evidence that the polls in the battleground states benefit one party or the other. in 2008, the mccain campaign was saying "look at the battleground state polls, pay no attention to the natio